DOINews: BLM Colorado Receives Two Awards for Historic Preservation from History Colorado

Top row, from left: BLM representatives: Erin Leifeld, archaeologist, Colorado River Valley Field Office; and Alissa Leavitt-Reynolds and Natalie Clark, Grand Junction Field Office. Second row from left: two photos of Hanging Flume Project Bottom row: BLM representatives: Dan Haas, state archaeologist, Colorado State Office (bottom right); other representatives: Anthony & Associates, Interpretive Association of Western Colorado and History Colorado.

On Feb. 5, History Colorado honored the BLM Colorado with the 12th Annual Governor's Award for Historic Presentation for their work on the Colorado Wickiup Project. The project is a partnership with the Dominguez Archaeological Research Group, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Southern Ute Indian Tribe, Uintah and Ouray Ute Tribe, the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service, who were also honored at the ceremony.

Wickiups and other aboriginal wooden features, such as tree platforms and brush fences, were once commonplace in Colorado. Now rare, a majority of the surviving features can be associated with Ute culture and consequently represent the only surviving architecture of the state's living indigenous peoples.

According to History Colorado, the project “contributed demonstrable understanding of how aboriginal peoples of this region used these ephemeral wooden structures in the past, and it is an outstanding example of research that combines archaeology, ethnography, history, and technological innovation.”

The BLM, the Interpretive Association of Western Colorado and Anthony & Associates were also awarded the Stephen H. Hart Award for Historic Preservation for the Hanging Flume Project. The Hanging Flume is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is the longest historic structure in the state of Colorado. As the only known flume to remain in the United States in a condition suitable for preservation, the Hanging Flume is listed by the World Heritage Fund as one of the 100 most endangered sites in the world. The Hanging Flume Project reconstructed 48 feet of the historic structure, which will be used as an interpretive and educational site.

Stephen Hart was Colorado's first state historic preservation officer. The Stephen H. Hart Award was established in 1986 to recognize and celebrate the archaeological and historic preservation achievements of partners across the state.

Learn more about History Colorado: http://www.historycolorado.org/

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Submitted by: BLM Public Affairs

March 10, 2014

This story also appears on the BLM's My Public Lands Tumblr blog here.